Gauri was a very beautiful and wise young girl. A perfect combination of beauty and brains. Pampered by her doting father, her mere presence attracted a lot of attention. And like every young girl her age, she dreamt of Love. Gauri was a mere teenager when she first met him. The widower.
The older man. Eyebrows were raised. Questions asked. Why was She trying to in over such a man's broken heart? Didn't She deserve to be someone's first? She had broken the stereotypes by marrying him.
Gauri was strong and independent. She decided for herself. She didn't want a father, brother or husband to protect her. She could do that herself. She fought for her own rights. She made her own rules. She lived life in her own terms. She decided what she wanted to do. Where she wanted to go. She decided to have kids when she wanted. Gauri stood up against the bossy men who dictated the society.
She came home when she wished to. She questioned everything at her own free will. She didn't like being judged. By behaviour or skin colour. She was sometimes the rebellious, fiery girl, a timid wife. She wanted a daughter even after having two sons. She stood by her husband in his decisions and opposed ones she didn't like. She had a voice, the most important one in the family. She balanced work and home. She raised her voice against everything wrong openly.
Now, would you like your daughter to be like Gauri? Living life on her own terms? Daring to be brave? Will you be scared that she can face difficulties in this chauvinist society, so better she doesn't try to match up to them? Will your male ego be bothered if your wife is more successful, your sister more popular, or your mother more ambitious? Don't kid yourself. Of course, it bothers you to bow to a woman. Let her run the home and society.
Now think, what if Himalaya thought so too? What if Shiva thought so? Would we have had a Mahisashurmardini then? Let your Gauri live her life the way she chooses to. Who knows, she can bring the next reform to the world.
~ Suranya
